Sticky toffee pudding

270g dates chopped
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
150g unsalted butter
185g self raising flour
265g soft brown sugar
2 eggs beaten lightly
2 tablespoons of golden syrup
200ml pouring cream

Heat the oven to 180. Lightly grease 8 small pudding tins.
Put the dates and 250ml of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Add 60g of butter to the dates and allow to melt in. Stir.
Sift the flour int a bowl and add 125g of the sugar. Mix together. Make a well in the centre and the date mixture and eggs. Stir until combined.
Fill the pudding tins until about 3/4 full. Leave a little bit to allow for rising as they will rise quite a bit.
Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Sauce - put golden syrup, cream, the remaining butter and the remaining sugar into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 2 minutes.

Turn the puddings into a dish (you might need to level the tops before turning out)
Prick all over with a skewer and drizzle the sauce all over. Serve with cream or ice cream.

Lemon Posset

An absolute favourite of mine

600ml of double cream
150g caster sugar
2 large lemons (zest and juice)

Heat the double cream and sugar very gently in a pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a slow boil but make sure it doesn't boil over. Allow to boil for about three minutes. Take off the heat and allow to cool a little. When cooler add the lemon and lemon jest and leave for about 15 minutes, stirring now and again to stop any skin forming. Pour through a sieve into glasses or serving dishes and leave to set in the fridge. I serve with shortbread and fresh raspberries.

Toffee apple pudding

This recipe was posted by a member of the TES forum so I thought I would share it on here too. It is truly delicious and well worth making.

Dry ingredients to mix together
140g SR flour
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt

Wet ingredients to mix together
200ml milk
1 egg beaten
85g melted butter

2 Bramley apples chopped

Toffee mix
250ml boiling water
with 140g dark brown sugar disolved into it.

Lay the chopped apples in the bottle of a 2 litre ovenproof dish
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and pile onto of chopped apples.
Pour the toffee mix all over the top of the sponge mix.
It will look pretty strange at this stage but it will be fantastic when cooked.
Put in a preheated oven 180 for approx 40 minutes until well risen and brown. The middle should feel spongy and spring back when it is ready.
ENJOY!

Christmas pudding

My version of a delicious Christmas pudding. Nothing fancy using cheap ingredients

To make 3 large puddings

2 bags of smartprice (Asda) mixed fruit

1 bag of smartprice (Asda) raisins

1 bottle of guiness or this year I used Old peculiar

The juice and rind of a lemon and an orange

A good slush of brandy

240g dark brown sugar

360g butter

3 eggs

180g white breadcrumbs

240g plain flour

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of black treacle

Start the night before by soaking the fruit. Pile it all into a big bowl, add the rind and juice of a lemon and an orange, pour the guiness and brandy in. Add the black treacle. Stir every now and again to mix thoroughly. By morning you will have plump fruit and no liquid.

In the morning.

Cream the butter and sugar together, I do this in my food processor. Add the eggs.

Measure out the flour and spices. Add the flour, breadcrumbs and spices to the fruit and then add the butter, sugar and egg mix to the fruit. Stir thoroughly. Pile into greased pudding basins. I usually put a round of greaseproof paper at the bottom of each pudding basic. Then put a circle of greaseproof and a circle of foil (with a pleat in) over the top of the puddings and tie tightly with string. Put into a slow cooker with water half way up the basins and cook on high for 6 hours (this depends on your slow cooker, you might have to keep checking by sticking a skewer into the middle of the pudding. It needs to come out clean and be piping hot). You really can't overcook a pudding in the slow cooker. Leave to cool for a while and then turnout. Wrap in greaseproof and foil and store somewhere cool until Christmas. I usually put mine in the garage. To reheat I just use my slow cooker again. Reheat for about 3-4 hours.

Slow cooker treacle sponge

I wish I had taken a photo of it to show you because it looked fantastic. Quite some time ago I had a go at baking in my slow cooker. I made a lovely carrot cake that was deliciously moist and scrummy. It got me thinking about using the slow cooker for a steamed sponge. The idea being you could just put it in and basically forget about it. Last Sunday we had the mother - in - law for tea. I cooked a lovely lasagne which she loves and I made a treacle sponge and custard for pudding. Here is the recipe:-

100g of Self raising flour
100g of margarine
100g of sugar (I used brown)
loads of golden syrup (sorry I didn't measure it)
2 eggs

I blitzed the flour, margarine, sugar and eggs in the food processor.
I greased a pudding basin with margarine and then poured about an inch of golden syrup into the bottom. I then piled on the sponge mixture. Covered tightly with a piece of pleated foil and then put into the bottom of the slow cooker. I put about 3-4 cm of water in the bottom of the slow cooker. Put the lid on and turned on high. I checked after about 3 hours to find it cooked right through. It was light and fluffy and very moist. I turned it out onto a serving dish and the golden syrup ran down the sides. It was a big hit with everyone.